Jazz Musicians Finally Unite

LISA GODDARD ON STAGE

January 30, 2004|LISA GODDARD

Five veteran jazz musicians will journey back in time, musically and personally, when they present "1950 -- The Year That Was," at 3 and 7 p.m. Feb. 14 at the Levis Jewish Community Center's Zinman Hall, west of Boca Raton.

As music students at Northwestern University in Chicago in the late 1940s and early 1950s, they listened to one another perform and occasionally partnered up to play. But this will be the first time the five have played together.

Marshall Turkin of Boca Raton helped coordinate the concert, which also will feature trombonist Art Sares of Delray Beach, trumpet player Warren Kime of West Palm Beach, pianist Eddie Higgins of Fort Lauderdale and saxophonist Kenny Soderblom of Longboat Key.

"We were in college at the same time and we'd play individually together sometimes, but never did all five of us perform together at the same concert," said Turkin, a clarinet player, whose Classic Jazz Ensemble has been performing at the JCC for seven years.

"This will be our debut."

Turkin said the idea for the reunion concert came to him when he was deciding what music to focus on for an upcoming program.

"When I do concerts, I usually select a composer or composers, trace their artistic development and then play the music," said Turkin, 77. "This time, I decided to do an era, picked the mid-20th century, and thought, `Wouldn't it be great if the group of us from Northwestern could get together and perform since that was the time period we began playing.'

"By coincidence, we all live in Florida now, so it should work out well."

Turkin, former executive director of the Pittsburgh and Detroit symphonies, as well as the Chicago Symphony's Ravinia Festival, said he and a couple of the other musicians are writing their own arrangements for the concert.

FOR THE RECORD - CORRECTION PUBLISHED FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2004.A column on Page 6 of the Community News section on Jan. 30 incorrectly reported the date for two jazz concerts at the Levis Jewish Community Center's Zinman Hall west of Boca Raton. 1950 -- The Year That Was is scheduled at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m for Feb. 15. For information and reservations, call 561-852-3241.

"Most of it is improvisation because that's what jazz really is, but we're selecting tunes and working on the arrangements," he said. "Northwestern is sending us some banners and hats and things, so it will be fun, and it will be nostalgic for us and for the audience to hear music of that era."

Sares, 80, who has played lead trombone for such performers as Frank Sinatra and Burt Bacharach and with a number of symphony orchestras, says it will be fun to perform with his former classmates.

"They're all great musicians and have had great careers, so it will be very interesting," said Sares, who teaches music at Palm Beach Community College in Lake Worth, and conducts and performs with the school's Trombone Ensemble.

"I'll play some Tommy Dorsey music," said Sares, who presents seminars on the life of Big Band leader Tommy Dorsey at universities throughout the country.

Kime moved to West Palm Beach four years ago, after a career that included stints with the CBS staff orchestra in Chicago and the Billy May, Nelson Riddle and Bob Crosby bands.

"It's wonderful that we're getting together, kind of nice that we all live in this area now," said Kime, 76, who has recorded and performed with such stars as Nat King Cole, Henry Mancini and Perry Como.

Kime has been studying and working on the recorder and recently recorded a CD, Recorder Jazz.

"It's unusual to play jazz on the recorder, but it's something I've wanted to do," he said.

Higgins has performed with such jazz musicians as Coleman Hawkins, Jack Teagarden, Stan Getz and Dizzy Gillespie, while Soderblom was a longtime studio musician for CBS and performed with Tony Bennett, Rosemary Clooney, Quincy Jones and Sarah Vaughn.

JCC cultural arts director Susana Flaum said the concert, and others presented at the facility, would not be possible without Turkin, who serves on the JCC's cultural arts committee.

"We're very lucky to have Marshall. It's his brilliance that made this concert possible," she said. "All the musicians have become very well known in their field, and when Marshall suggested bringing them all together, we were thrilled."

The JCC is at 9801 Donna Klein Blvd. Tickets are $18. Call 561-852-3241.